I've been playing (and GMing) SWD6 2ER&E for many, many years but just read this for the first time (another good reason to occasionally reread your sourcebooks and thoroughly!)

(page 35) You can buy specializations after character creation however, unlike during character creation, they build only on the Attribute, not the Skill (if you have the skill).

Maybe I'm the only person who didn't know this but I thought it was worth mentioning in case you're 'rule blind' like me!

That isn't exactly what the rules say. What it says in the section on Characters on page 35 is the following.

Quote:

Learning New Skills
Skills and Specializations. Characters can learn a
new skill or specialization by paying enough Character
Points to advance it one pip above the attribute.
There is no training time if the character "used the
skill" in the last adventure (i.e., used the attribute
when doing something that would be covered by the
skill). Otherwise, use the normal rules for training
time.

Example: Thannik wants to learn the bargain
skill, which is based on his Perception (which is
3D). He pays three Character Points and gets
bargain at 3D+1. If Thannik "bargained" in the
last adventure — haggled with a merchant, for
example — there's no training time and the skill
improves immediately.
[Characters section page 35]

It doesn't specifically say that you must start a new specialization at the level of the attribute if you already have the skill above your attribute. The way I read that, the designers were a little too succinct and a bit careless with their language. They only addressed the case for a new specialization starting from base.

Interpreting what they wrote to mean that a character who had a Dexterity of 4D and blaster at 12D and wanted to specialize in blaster pistol would have to start off with a specialization of Blaster: Blaster pistol 4D+1 at a cost of 4/2=2 CPs doesn't contradict what is written, but it strikes me as so obviously contrary to common sense as to be a misreading of what the designers meant to say. It seems far more sensible to rule that the character would start out with blaster: blaster pistol 12D+1 at a cost of 12/2=6 CPs.

What the rules should have said was

Quote:

Learning New Skills
Skills and Specializations. Characters can learn a
new skill by paying enough Character Points to
advance it one pip above the attribute. Characters
can learn a new specialization by paying enough
Character Points to advance the specialization one
pip above the higher of the base skill or the
attribute.
There is no training time if the character "used the
skill" in the last adventure (i.e., used the attribute
when doing something that would be covered by the
skill). Otherwise, use the normal rules for training
time.

Example: Thannik wants to learn the bargain
skill, which is based on his Perception (which is
3D). He pays three Character Points and gets
bargain at 3D+1. If Thannik "bargained" in the
last adventure — haggled with a merchant, for
example — there's no training time and the skill
improves immediately.

Example: Thannik wants to specialize in tracking, which
is a specialization of search. Thannik already has
search at 4D which is above his Perception of 3D
so he pays 2 Character Points (1/2 of 4) and gets
search: tracking at 4D+1.

Its like with many games. Over on planetadnd, one guy who's been gaming for 25+ years with both 1 and 2e, has just realized.. "HEY when someone dies and is brought back to life they are supposed to get 5k experience, the first time".. ALL this time and that little titbit has eluded him.._________________It's Not who you kill, but how they die!
You cannot dodge it if you do not know it is coming, and you cannot hit it if you do not know its there.